This week's forgotten Illini-wide receiver Jason Dulick.....signed in Lou Tepper's 1992 Illini recruiting class out of St. Louis University High School...3-star prospect picked Illini over Missouri, Arkansas and Purdue....left Illinois as 2nd leading pass catcher in school history....caught 169 passes/2004 yards/15 touchdowns in Champaign....1995 team captain....played two years in the Arena League with Tampa Bay....now a teacher/head football coach at St. Louis Gateway STEM High School.
Week 9 Big Ten team of the week-Michigan State 37 Michigan 33......Harbaugh complaining about the refs after loss 'karma' man...poorly officiated game? yes it was but a 'Michigan Man' complaining about getting screwed by the refs all these years later...'karma'.....Harbaugh screwing up the game with his game management or lack of game management......Wolverines in control, sends in the frosh QB to get cute with a play, QB fumbles Spartans recover, take back momentum his worst management offense last Saturday....Harbaugh is an empty suit as a head coach...won at Stanford when his QB was Andrew Luck....won with the 49ers cause of a bunch of high draft picks, Vic Fangio (head coach of the Broncos) was his defensive coordinator, Greg Roman (now offensive coordinator with the Ravens) his OC.......not that Michigan losing ever breaks my heart.
Big Ten football week 10
Ohio State (7-1) at Nebraska (+14.5) 11 am CT. FOX
Nebraska coming off another one possession loss last week at home vs. Purdue....Under Frost Huskers have lost something like 18 games by one possession....Ohio State by ten Saturday........Huskers and the points.
Michigan State (8-0) at Purdue (+3) 2:30 pm CT. ABC
Spartans coming off an emotional win last week won't have a letdown....Michigan State by a TD....Lay the points take the Spartans.
Penn State (5-3) at Maryland (+11) 2:30 pm CT. FS1
Maryland 'D' can't stop the Penn State offense....Nittany Lions lay the points.
Wisconsin (5-3) at Rutgers (+13) 2:30 pm CT. BTN
Badgers now winning both sides of the line of scrimmage....defense playing at the level of the 85’ Bears.....Wisconsin lay the points.
Iowa (6-2) at Northwestern (+12) 6 pm CT. BTN
Cliche' 'Northwestern has Iowa's number'...yeah but that is when Fitz-eee has a good QB and Mike Hankwitz coordinating his defense....Northwestern has neither this season....Hawkeyes get healthy vs. what has become an 1970's version of Northwestern football....Iowa lay the points.
Illinois (+14.5) at Minnesota (6-2) 11 am CT. ESPN2
Lovie Smith teams at Illinois always seemed to have the attitude they were better than they were...that attitude reared it's head again last Saturday in the loss to mediocre Rutgers....Illini no spark after the 'big win' over Penn State playing like if they just showed up, would win.....defense couldn't stop the run consistently, offense well....Minnesota does two things on offense Illinois 'D' has trouble stopping, slant passes and running between the tackles....even with their 5th string running back....Gophers lay the points.
Illini football recruits from the state of Minnesota over the years.....
Jeff Schwantz defensive end Elgin (MN.) Millville HS Class of 1996
Late addition to Tepper's class…..reported to Illinois as a 6-foot-5, 210-pound defensive end....reads like he went thru a spring practice with Turner's staff before leaving Illinois in 97'.
Anthony Longe cornerback St Paul (MN.) St. Agnes HS Class of 2002
'We got a great group of defensive backs' Ron Turner said of his 2002 recruiting class...Longe one of the 3 DB's in 2002.....Christian Morton's highly touted cousin safety Darnell Ray out of St Louis lasted 2 years before leaving for Tennessee State....other was Steve 'Smoke' Harris Rockford Boylan lasted a year before getting booted out of school with Longe.
Tony Sparkman offensive line Wayzata HS (MN.) Class of 2004
Left mid fall 2004....when it got cold wanted to wear sleeves to practice, rest of the o-linemen told him 'no we don't wear sleeves...we are offensive linemen'....had issues with then o-line coach Hiestand's 'hard coaching'.....transferred to North Dakota State for 2 years before moving back to Chicago....got involved in trafficking drugs, charged with 'racketeering conspiracy, two counts of kidnapping in aid of racketeering, three counts of possessing cocaine with intent to distribute, and one count of brandishing a firearm’ in 2011....convicted 2013...sentenced to 40 years...released in 2020 under the 'First Step' program....court records indicate before his release Sparkman weighed close to 400 pounds, diabetic with heart disease.
Phil Haig quarterback Inner Grove Heights (MN.) Sibley HS class of 2007
When then Illini QB commitment Clint Brewster bailed on Zook's staff three days before 2007 signing day....Haig then committed to Minnesota e-mailed Zook expressing his interest in Illinois....signed shortly after....lefty...on the 2008 Rose Bowl team....quit to play for the Illini baseball team.....later booted out of school for theft.
Fritz Rock Wayzata (MN.) HS Class of 2010
2010 spring signee when Zook's staff was looking all over for players....played some wide receiver, tried at safety...never stuck...left after Beckman’s staff came to Champaign 2011.
*What could have been-Kenni Burns now the running backs coach at Minnesota/one of the top recruiters in the Big Ten is from Springfield, Illinois....Burns attended Springfield Griffin HS class of 2003....Burns went from suspect to prospect his senior year earning all state honors/player of the year in the Springfield area....Illini had 'interest' in Burns but....then Illini running backs coach Jim Helms had 'lost' Burns tape reportedly (no HUDL back then fellas VHS or compact disc highlights)...anyway without a tape....Illini late evaluating Burns who ended up signing with/having a good career at the University of Indiana, getting into coaching after his playing career over....Illinois running back recruits class of 2003? Pierre Thomas Thornton (Ill.), Marcus Mason North Bethesda (MD.) and Gerard Jackson Dodge City (Kan.) Community College.....Helms 'retired' after the 2003 recruiting class was signed at Illinois....He went down and coached high school football in south Texas for several years after Illinois.
*Memories-November 1993 Minnesota at Illinois....10 degrees in Champaign 50K in attendance....cold where I was watching the 'snow game'..... half go to put gas in my car maybe 2 miles away...fill the car up, turn the ignition, dead battery.....tell the attendant car dead, will be right back.....run home by the time I get back the Illini comeback begins.... two hours later went back with jumper cables to get the car, still sitting there next to the pump,...jumped the battery....started drove off....so cold attendant didn't even come out and bitch.
The Snow Game 1993
Both Coach Jim Wacker's Gophers and Coach Lou Tepper's Illini were riding three-game winning streaks, thanks to respective upset victories over nationally ranked teams. Just a week before, Minnesota had captured Paul Bunyan's Axe from No. 15 Wisconsin, while two weeks earlier Illinois had defeated No. 13 Michigan in Ann Arbor with a last-minute touchdown.
"The Minnesota game was special to me because the Big Ten coach I respected the most was Jim Wacker," Tepper said. "He had an exciting personality, an exciting team, and always had something positive to say. He was just a tremendous friend of mine."
Wacker's Gophers grabbed a first-quarter lead with a field goal, but UI junior placekicker Chris Richardson helped Illinois to a 6-3 advantage late in the second period with successful field goal conversions of 46 and 49 yards, the two longest of his Illini career.
Late in the third quarter, in a span of just 5:33, Minnesota built up a 20-9 lead on successive touchdowns and a field goal, greatly diminishing Illinois' prospects for victory.
With hope for a win dwindling in the fourth quarter, Illinois solved its offensive struggles on its next-to-last possession of the game. Johnson hit wide receiver Gary Voelker with an 11-yard touchdown pass with just 4:24 remaining to shrink the Gopher lead to five points, 20-16.
Up to that point, Voelker had sparkled for UI's special teams, racking up 123 yards on five kickoff returns and 50 yards on four punt returns. Those efforts and his TD catch earned him ESPN's Player of the Game honors.
Now nursing a four-point lead, Minnesota's offense took the field, where only a few first downs were needed to ice the game. Instead ace linebackers Dana Howard and John Holecek stepped up to give the Illini offense one last chance.
After forcing a Gopher punt, only 73 seconds remained on the clock. More significantly, 87 yards separated Illinois from its must-have touchdown. Johnson began the drive by connecting with Jason Dulick on two passes to move the ball up to the Illinois 42-yard line, then converted a fourth-and-one situation with a quarterback sneak to keep the drive alive. After two pass incompletions, Johnson scrambled up the middle for a gain of 17 and another key first down. A pass interference call on Minnesota cornerback Juan Hunter moved the ball to UI's 25-yard line.
However, only 20 seconds showed on the scoreboard clock.
As Illinois prepared for the critical play, Johnson made eye contact with Landry on the sideline and got permission to audible and make his own call, one called "65 screen right." Douthard would be Johnson's target. Johnson's final pass was completed and Illinois' No. 7 set off to finish the play.
Final score: Illinois 23, Minnesota 20 (recap courtesy FightingIllini.com)